Today
by Dance.Smartly
Summary: One-Shot H/D. I haven't posted anything in a long ass time, and I just wrote this for fun. A/N: Sorry about the lack of line breaks, it decided to delete them *Sigh*


_Am I nothing more, than a line in your book?_

"Good morning, Professor Malfoy."

"Good morning, Petrifying Potter."

To a bystander, the exchange of words would have seemed innocent and mundane. The same words had been exchanged every day at 11:15 a.m. for the past ten years between the Gryffindor ghost and the Potions professor. Draco Malfoy always took the fifth floor on his way to lunch and Harry Potter's ghost always took the fifth floor on his way to visit the Headmistress during his daily rounds.

However, today was different.

Today, Draco felt remorse.

"Good morning, Professor Malfoy."

"Good morning, Petrifying Potter."

Harry floated by. If he had a heart, he was sure it would be sinking.

Draco stopped and slowly turned to gaze at the transparent boy that meant everything to him. In the past ten years, "Good morning" had been all that had been said between the two of them.

Draco lifted his arm, wanting to reach out and touch Harry. He wanted to bring him back to life and hold him close. He wanted to gaze into those dazzling green eyes again. They mesmerized him.

But he had lost that privilege.

_"What would my family think? I'd be a disgrace!"_

He covered his eyes in embarrassment.

"Harry..." he muttered softly. But there was no response. Harry had already floated away.

The next day, Draco took the third floor to get to lunch.

Draco stood behind a pair of students who were working on their Shrinking Solution, breathing down their necks. The student on his right was Hugo Weasley, who was easily his least favourite student in the school. Now, Hugo wasn't a bad student, per se, he was just the remnants of the two people that prevented Draco from spending five additional happy years with Harry. Draco also hated Hugo for his Potions knowledge, which prevented Draco from having much reason to send him to detention with Filch. The student on his left was Ralph Longbottom, the product of Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Ralph dropped the flask that he was holding, proving that he inherited certain traits from Neville.

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Draco said with a smirk on his face. "Hugo, you shouldn't have given Ralph the responsibility of holding a flask full of frog's eggs!"

Draco walked slowly back up to the front of the classroom, his hands held together behind his back. "Your Shrinking Solutions should now be nearly prepared. We must let them sit for the night and we will test them on mice tomorrow. You are dismissed."

The class murmured in approval for being let out ten minutes early. When the room had emptied, Draco fell into his chair and began to hopelessly weep into his hands.

He had given up everything twelve years ago. He had Harry, they were happy, and he gave it up.

"Can we be together forever, Draco?"

"Of course," Draco replied, tousling Harry's messy hair. He was surprised that he could make it even messier.

Harry stood up abruptly. "I want to tell everyone," he said. "I'm sick of hiding it. I'm sick of acting like it's our dirty little secret."

Draco gazed up at Harry. Harry's eyes had an unusual twinkle in them.

"Draco, come on."

Draco hesitated, staring at the ground. He opened his mouth and closed it again quickly. Feeling the hesitation, Harry muttered, "Draco?"

"You... you know I'd love to... but –"

The twinkle in Harry's eyes quickly disappeared. "But what?"

"Well... well what would my father think?" Draco spat. "What would my family think? I'd be a disgrace!" Draco stood quickly. "How would you feel if your only son was a faggot for the boy who killed your master?"

Immediately, he knew he had gone too far. Harry's eyes dropped, and he muttered something along the lines of "oh, I see."

"Harry, I'm s –"

"No you aren't."

Harry turned on his heel and stomped off, leaving behind the only person he would ever love.

_I need you so much closer..._

"Did you miss lunch today?"

Draco nearly jumped out of his robes when he heard the voice.

"It's just me," Harry's ghost muttered.

"Merlin's beard, Harry, don't scare me like that," Draco said. "I sometimes forget you can walk through walls."

"Well I'm not exactly walking."

Draco sighed, a small smile on his face. Part of him missed Harry's snide comments.

"So? Did you miss lunch?"

There was a pregnant pause. Draco looked at a file on his desk, pretending it was more important than the boy in front of him. "Err... no," he lied, "I wanted a change of scenery."

"Am I not sufficient scenery?"

Draco cringed. "It wasn't you. I just... enjoy change sometimes."

"I find it rather odd that you decide to change your route for the first time in ten years," Harry retorted, "Not to mention the fact that you were never a fan of change. Look at you, you couldn't even leave Hogwarts."

"Neither could you!"

Draco had finally looked up from his file and was staring daggers at Harry, who was returning the favour.

"What do you want, anyway?" Draco snapped, feigning sorting through his papers.

Harry floated over to Draco's desk. He reached out and grazed his fingers along Draco's cheek, making Draco shiver.

"You're so cold," Draco muttered.

"Well I am dead."

Draco smiled softly. It was the first honest smile he'd had in many years.

"Why did you come back?" Draco asked.

"The same reason you did," Harry replied, a smile on his face.

"To torture innocent students?"

Harry laughed. "No. To keep an eye on the two things you love: Hogwarts, and your man."

Draco laughed lightly.

"Thank you, Malfoy," Harry said, a broad smile in his transparent face.

Draco would never forget the day. It was June 10th, 1997. Some way, somehow, Harry had destroyed all the Horcruxes. All that remained was Voldemort.

"Leave me! Let me finish this!" Voldemort demanded, his wand remaining pointed at Harry.

Harry gazed at Voldemort, fire blazing in his eyes. He seemed, to Draco's surprise, almost confident.

"This is it, Harry Potter," Voldemort taunted, "You and I. This is how it was meant to be. You have evaded me time and time again, with naught but luck and that pitiful emotion you call love. You are arrogant, I see, because of our previous encounters; now, all that remains is our talent. I hope you are prepared to die."

Harry swallowed and lifted his wand, pointing it at Voldemort. He opened his mouth to say an incantation, but Voldemort was quicker.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

A green light shot out of the end of Voldemort's wand, hitting Harry square in the chest. Harry's eyes widened in surprise as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

"NO!" Draco screamed, running over to Harry's dead body. "NO!"

Voldemort's cold laugh echoed through the Great Hall. Spectators began to scream and run – Harry was their last hope.

"No!" Draco screamed again, clutching Harry's body. "Get up! You've done it before, get up!"

His eyes moved around the room madly, as if he was holding a doll and the real Harry would jump out from behind a post. Horror running through his veins, he realized that it was real: Harry was dead.

"Silly boy," Voldemort taunted. "Love is for the weak."

Within a blink of an eye, Draco had pulled his wand out of his pocket and was pointing it at Voldemort.

"You're wrong," he said, "You're wrong! _Avada Kedavra_!"

"Good morning, Professor Malfoy."

"Good morning, Petrifying Potter."

The exchange of words was the same that it had always been. Draco would continue walking down the hall to lunch and Harry would continue to Headmistress McGonagall's office.

Draco suddenly stopped.

"Would you like to go to lunch with me?"

Harry smiled. "I can't exactly eat."

"Well... come sit with me. Beside the lake. I think we have some catching up to do."

"That – that sounds nice."

Harry floated over to Draco. At that moment, the only thing Draco wanted to do was kiss Harry. He felt an agonizing pain knowing that he couldn't.

You see, today was different.

Today, Draco fell back in love.


End file.
